Does PrEP have side effects?

Everything has a good side and a bad side, even Tylenol. PrEP is no different. The most common thing that people can experience when you first taking the medication, your body knows something new is going on. And you have a little upset stomach, a little nausea, you just feel queasy. It’s not everyone. It’s probably one to two percent of people experience this, but generally after the first few days that passes. There are some people who have noticed headaches when they start the medication as well. Again, usually those headaches are resolved by over-the-counter medications, like Tylenol or Motrin. So that’s the most common thing that happens, it doesn’t happen to everyone but I want you to be aware of it because I don’t just want you to stop because usually if you can power through and take it consistently, that goes away.

Dr. Flash goes over the potential side effects of PrEP – the HIV prevention pill.

Many people on PrEP report no or minimal side effects. Others may at first experience mild symptoms such as headache or abdominal, which tend to go away after about a month.

Click here for more information on PrEP.

 

#AskTheHIVDoc is a video series from Greater Than HIV featuring top HIV doctors providing answers to commonly-asked questions about HIV prevention, testing and treatment.

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